So Many Accomplishments!

19 Months:

Zusha is really going on the potty now, except for one tiny obstacle- he refuses to take his pants off and I don't want to push him. But otherwise he really sits when he needs to go.

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He caught a ball for the first time! And matched up ALL the pieces of his fish board puzzle all by himself. And he made his Mama so proud: He was playing with blocks, and when he was done, he put them all in their box and put the box on the shelf! Hooray!

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Zusha loves to draw and calls all writing instruments CRAYOK. Why? No clue. He can definately say the N sound, sooo.... Anyway, his favorite color is yellow. Since he began drawing, he always chose all the yellow pencils first. In his pencil case was a plain pencil that was painted yellow. He examined it... looked nice, and even had a silver top, WOW! He began to color, but instead of yellow, the pencil colored GREY!! He said, "Foo!" (Eew!) and put it right back.

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He dresses himself!
Well, sort of. He's only 19 1/2 months, and he put on his pajama pants ALL BY HIMSELF!!
I gave him the undershirt and said, "Put it on."
He put in the arms, and I did the head.
Then I gave him the pants. He tried a couple of times, and got one leg in. As he was working on the other, I held his first leg, so both legs shouldn't end up on one side. Then he stood up and pulled the pants over his popa!
Hooray for my big boy Zusil!!!

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Date: 1/12/2006
Today Zusha learned how to build a tower with his blocks and built it 9 BLOCKS HIGH!

On/Off...On/Off...On/Off...

The building in which we lived when Zusha was 1 1/2 years old had 2 lights outside near the entrance. One was working and the other one was broken. When we used to come home from our walks, I would call my husband to come down and help us bring everything upstairs and while we waited, I taught Zusha "ON" and "OFF." He caught on quickly, and that became his new obsession. He would always ask for all the lights to be "ONNNN!"

~Feet~

To this day, I cannot understand this odd obsession that my wonderful child had for almost a year.
Feet.
Starting from about 8 months, Zusha would go absolutely nuts when he saw a foot. He loves feet. I mean really! He has "tenderness attacks." He scrunches up his tiny nose, squints his eyes, furrows his eyebrows and curls out his lips. His face gets such a loving look, and he pats the foot gently, squeezes it, hugs it. Depending on the age, he would either squeal or say loving things to the foot. If I'm sitting and he notices my feet, he jumps on them, hugging and kissing. If he's crying all I have to do is show him my feet and he is calm. Once he was busy playing and I put my feet up on a chair to relax. He was there in an instant! He loves anything that has to do with feet: shoes, socks, slippers. I once showed him that I can wiggle my feet up and down and now he always demands that! He wiggles his own to show me what he wants.

This cute quirk lasted until he was about a year and a half.

Best Toddler...

Zushala is the best baby toddler! He is a year and a half old. He is such a big kid already- talking away, trying out new words...

To every question he asks, he adds at the end, "Yah?"- hoping we'll agree.

If I ask him if he has a dirty diaper, he gets serious and says, "No-No. No-No." As if the thought itself is appalling to him.

He's just the sweetest kiddo! He loves to cuddle with his Mama and his animals- Bearish, Moorka, Leibush, Gava, Braninosetz...

He also gives the sweetest kisses! All you have to say is, "Make kissy-face!" and he leans over to give a wet kiss.Kissy Facey Zusi

Potty News
Date: 11/30/2005

Well, for the last 2 days Zusha has been playing around with the potty, lifting the lid and sitting fully clothed. He never sat on it with the lid up before, but now he did. And both times he pooped in his diaper!!
Did he really go to the potty and sit on it because he wanted to make?
Only he knows!

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SNOW!!
Date: 12/4/2005

Today was the first snow of the season!!
We took Zusha to the bay, where there was lots of fresh snow. He ran around in his NEW BOOTS! There were lots of frozen Beibas (birds) over there. Zusha made sure to keep them exercising.

What a fun day we had!

Words Zusha Says by 1 1/2 Years Old

Hwekhwe = Shkarpetka, sock
Lampa = Lamp
K'HA-le = Kichale, Cracker
Kaka = Kaka
Thith = Sit
Yaaah = Yes
Tlain = Train
Gzle = Glezele, Cup
Dium = Jump
Ptith = Ptitza, Bird
Banana = Banana
Nana = Ananas, Pineapple
Wodeh = Water
Voteta, Zees = This
Loona = Moon in Russian
Pleplen = Airplane
Crayok = Crayon
Belelelele = Berele
Tika = Sticker
Thlon = Slon, elephant in Russian
Gava = Dog
Elmo = Pampers
Afffffff = Luvs
Kook= Look in Yiddish
Lelo or Alen= Alen', deer in Russian

First Sentence, 14 1/2 Months Old

Zusha saw Mama bringing a sippy cup full of milk and said (in Russian,)
"Dai mne, dai mne nyam nyam."
"Give me, give me yum yum."

Zusha loves to draw! His favorite colors are YELLOW and ORANGE. But there's one small problem: he eats all the crayons and uses the wrong sides of pens! He also loves to color circles much more than any other shape.

15 months: September 7, 2005-October 7, 2005

• Calls Tatte- Tutya!
• Climbs onto chairs.
• Says kiddush from a bencher and even said, "Kadshi" once!
• Zusha had his first experience riding on a subway train! My friend Osnat had a baby and we went to visit her. Zusha loves trains- he shakes and shouts, "Tlain! Tlain!" When he sees one coming. And now he got to ride one!

16 months: October 7, 2005-November 7, 2005

• Repeated the word "ge'endikt." As is his style, he said it properly the first few times. Then he switched to "genik" or "denik" until he settled on "deika."
• Began to nod and shake his head to yes or no questions.
• I bought for Zusha a baby doll to start preparing him for the new baby that would be joining our family. He rocks her and says, "Aaah, aah." He also puts his baby to sleep and says, "Shhh."
  

More Summer Photos, One Year Old